A report published by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water has revealed that there has been a 10-fold increase in forest fires in the past two decades. It further added that rising temperatures and low humidity is the reason for the increase in blazes
There have been multiple forest fires reported across Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan in the past month. Image used for representational purposes/PTI
Climate change is very real and it’s one of the major reasons why India has seen a significant rise in the incidence of forest fires.
The Forest Survey of India (FSI) had said that in the first three months of this year, there have been 1,36,604 fire points in the country, which have charred vast areas of forested land.
A study titled, ‘Managing Forest Fires in a Changing Climate’ by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), which was released on 8 April, found that there has been a 10-fold increase in forest fires in the past two decades, and that more than 62 per cent of Indian states are prone to high-intensity forest fires.
We take a look at the key findings of the report and how the report finds that drought couple with climate change is the reason for these blazes.
Forest fires in 2022
There have been multiple forest fires reported across Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan in the past month. Moreover, there were was also the fire at Odisha’s Similipal Wildlife Sanctuary, Madhya Pradesh’s Ladkui jungles in Sehore district and the forest areas of the Majhgawan region of Satna district and the Perimalmalai Peak near the Kodaikanal hills of Tamil Nadu’s Dindigul district.
The recent fire at Rajasthan’s Sariska Tiger Reserve was considered to have been unseasonal, with high temperatures exacerbating the spread of the fire.
For the unversed, it took around 400 people over six days to control the fire that had broken out at the tiger reserve in Rajasthan on 27 March.
In Uttarakhand, the incidents of forest fires in the past 10 days has doubled. A report in the Times of India said that there have been 313 forest fires from 1-10 April, gutting a total area of 374.79 hectares.
In Chhattisgarh the situation isn’t any better. There were 14,487 cases of forest fires in Chhattisgarh in March 2022. On 31 March alone, 1,571 active forest fires were reported in Chhattisgarh.
Forests in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka too witnessed a rise in forest fires. Across Madhya Pradesh, a total of 28,000 forest fires were reported in March.
What the report states
The study said that while there were 3,082 forest fires in the year 2000, that number has risen to 30,947 in 2019.
It also found that 36 per cent of India’s forest cover falls in zones that are vulnerable to intense forest fires.
The study also found that Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Telangana, and northeastern states are most prone to forest fires.
“It is evident that climate change is causing fire-favourable weather — hot temperatures, low humidity, and increased dry spells,” said the study, adding, “While forests can mitigate and reverse climate change impacts, there is no denying that climate-proofing forests is the need of the hour.”
The report also said that the duration of forest fires has now become nearly six months.
Highlighting this point, lead author of the report, Abinash Mohanty, who is programme lead at CEEW said, “The recent incident at Sariska forest reserve was the fourth forest fire in that week. Earlier, forest fires would take place during the summer months, that is between May and June. Now, during spring, between March and May, because of climatic changes, we have started seeing many more forest fires. This means the duration that forest fires could take place was two to three months earlier, but it is now nearly six months.”
What the report recommends
The CEEW report endorsed that forest fires should be recognised as a disaster under the National Disaster Management Act. Their reasoning is that by designating forest fires as natural disasters, there would also be a financial allotment made to manage them.
At present, managing these fires is the responsibility of the forest departments, which are understaffed and don’t have the capacity or skills to handle them
They also recommended a creation of a specialised cadre trained to contain and combat forest fires.
The report said that policymakers should also consider developing a real-time alerts system only for forest fire incidents.
With inputs from agencies
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